inspiring the food on your table & celebrating the people who surround it

Monthly Archives: July 2014

Peppery arugula, sweet figs, salty prosciutto, and creamy mozzarella are a summery match made in heaven. Add crusty bread to the mix, and you’ve got the perfect accompaniment to all your favorite summer cocktails. These crostini are sure to be a hit at your next gathering. Enjoy with a glass of chilly white wine or a fizzy cocktail laced with grapefruit and basil, and you’re in business!

In Turkish cuisine, it’s quite common to enjoy a main meal that doesn’t include meat. This vegetarian-friendly dish incorporates eggplant, olive oil, lemon, yogurt, and walnuts, all classic Turkish ingredients. Roasted chickpeas add a welcomed crunch and healthy dose of high-quality protein, with yogurt and walnuts also providing a protein boost. Serve this with a lightly dressed arugula salad and dolma for a balanced and fresh summer meal.

This Strawberry Jalapeño Margarita is up today on Today Show contributor Robyn Moreno’s site. For the recipe, click here.

This strawberry jalapeño margarita will take your cocktail hour to a whole new level. The surprising kick from infusing your tequila with jalapeño provides depth to the traditional margarita, and fresh strawberries add their own natural sweetness. The flavors in this are so clean and refreshing; you’ll get your margarita fix without a lot of sugar or fillers. Perfect to sip pool, beach, or lakeside with chips and guacamole—salud to summer!

This recipe is featured on Today Show contributor Robyn Moreno’s site. For the recipe, click here.

This spicy and sweet watermelon salsa is exactly what you want on a sweltering hot summer day. Hydrating, cooling, and refreshing, it’s a delicious snack with chips, or the perfect accompaniment to grilled fish or shrimp. You can even serve it as a revamped gazpacho, topped with some sliced avocado for a light summer meal.

This bright, garlicky tomato sauce is the perfect use for the dearth of ripe tomatoes in your garden and at the farmers market this summer. Great for a quick weeknight meal, this pasta also keeps it healthy and light, replacing heavy butter and cheese with lighter and more swimsuit friendly cashew cream. Whatever cashew cream you have leftover makes the perfect addition to your appetizer tray- just spread it over toasted slices of baguette and top with your favorite vegetables.

Cashew Cream Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews (soaked for at least one hour and at most overnight)

Combine all ingredients together in a high-speed blender, adding more water as needed, and scraping down the sides of the mixer and blending until you have a fluffy, creamy, smooth mixture. Season to taste, adding more salt, pepper, or lemon juice as needed.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In the meantime, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium size skillet, and add the onions. Cook 6-8 minutes, until the onions soften and begin to turn golden brown.

Add the garlic and tomatoes, and stir everything together. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes soften and a sauce begins to form. If you want a smoother sauce, at this point you can purée the mix in a blender and return to the pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Lower the heat and keep the sauce warm while you cook the pasta per package instructions.

When the pasta is al dente, save 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water, drain the pasta, and add to the skillet with the sauce. Add 1/4 cup of the cashew cream, and toss everything together. If you need to thin the sauce a bit, add a splash of the pasta water as needed. Add more cashew cream if you’d like a thicker, creamier sauce. Serve the pasta in bowls topped with the fresh basil and more cashew cream on the side. Enjoy!

Note: To sneak in more healthy vegetables, add a few handfuls of fresh spinach to the sauce- the heat of the pasta will wilt it.

With oceans teaming with fresh fish, Barbadian cuisine revolves around dishes that come from the sea. Rich in muscle and metabolism sustaining protein, white fish is a healthy addition to your dinner, when it’s not coated in a thick batter and deep-fried in oil. By swapping that thick batter for a thinner coating of crispy panko, and baking the fish in the oven rather than dunking it in oil, you significantly lighten up your meal, without sacrificing flavor or texture. Rich in polyphenols, vitamin C, and antioxidants, cabbage has been shown to have cancer preventative properties. This colorful cabbage slaw provides the perfect counterpoint to the crispy white fish, kicked up with a squeeze of vitamin C rich fresh lemon. Enjoy!

The Fourth of July, celebrating our freedom & independence and the unofficial start of summer, is just a few days away. I’ve gathered some of my favorite summertime recipes perfect for celebrating outside with friends and family. Fire up your grill, shake up a cocktail, gather underneath the fireworks, and enjoy a long sun soaked weekend filled with red, white, and blue.

This Fourth of July, toast your friends and family with this bright, fizzy, and supremely summery drink. Blueberries, at their best in the summer months, lend a subtle sweetness and beautiful color to this cocktail, while fresh thyme and St. Germain add subtle floral and herbal undertones for balance. Simple to prepare and not overly sweet, this is a refreshing libation you’ll want to make all summer long.

Serves 1 {easily multiplied}

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons blueberries {fresh or frozen}

1 1/2 oz. gin {try Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray, or Hendrick’s here}

1/2 oz. St. Germain

2 dashes bitters

leaves from one sprig of thyme, plus more to garnish

your favorite sparkling water, to serve

Directions:

In a high-speed blender, blitz together the blueberries, gin, St. Germain, bitters, and thyme until smooth and well combined.

Pour this mix into a tall glass over ice, and top up with sparkling water. Garnish with an extra sprig of thyme, if desired.

{Alternatively, you can muddle together the blueberries with the remaining ingredients, before topping up with sparkling water. You’ll have a thicker, though no less delicious result.}